Page 56 of Dagger

He huffed out a laugh. “I’m never prepared with you, babe. You twist me around until I don't know what is right anymore.”

His words only made her attraction for him climb. “I’m safe. I’m on the pill for female reasons.”

His response was immediate. “Touch me, babe. I need your hands on me, your mouth, your sweet touch.”

She wrapped her fingers around the hard, velvet-textured length of him and felt him pulse in her tight grip. She got to her knees, and kissed him deeply, hungrily, desperately while she smeared the silky moisture over the big plum-shaped head of his cock with her thumb. When his head dropped back, the strong column of his throat exposed, like an alpha wolf to his mate as he drew in a sharp breath at the pleasure, and his hips bucked when she sank her teeth into that powerful muscle, biting him then swiping her tongue over his salty, delicious skin. Running her teeth down his throat to his collarbone, then to his taut nipple, she bit him harder, and his hips bucked again, releasing a low guttural sound low in his chest. Her hand still strumming over his erection, she sucked him hard and went to his other nipple for the same treatment.

His hands buried into her hair, tightening until it was almost painful, his restraint and desire an even bigger turn on. He dragged her head back, her skin tingling everywhere, hot and alive with sensation. He captured her lips in an open-mouthed,tongue-tangling kiss. With a soft moan, she gave him exactly what he craved, responding like a woman equally starved for him. Their tongues entwined, demanding, desperate, aggressive and with a driving, passionate force that matched the storm raging inside them. His erection swelled and hardened even more as his mouth devoured her. She pumped him harder, her free hand raking down the length of his chest, deliciously ribbed abs, to the base of his dick. He broke the kiss, a low, untamed rasp ripped from his chest.

His response was absolutely, positively heavenly.

She had never had much of an impulse to go down on any man, and Brian had made his disappointment known. But her only thought was that she had to have him, to taste him, to give him the kind of pleasure he’d given her with his sexy lips. She lowered herself and took him in her wet mouth, his skin hot and salty against her tongue. He shuddered and tangled his hands in her hair, and she sucked him, taking him as deep as she could, and with each stroke, she only wanted him more, his soft grunts, and heavy groans, the way his hips flexed beneath her hands, the pleasure-soaked sound of his voice fed her relentless need.

“Oh,fuck,Quinn. Christ,” he breathed, the heat and taste of him sinking into her until her body was a profound ache, needing him in ways she couldn’t define. “Mouth fuck me harder,” he whispered, groaning like a dying man. His nostrils flared, his eyes almost dark from his blown pupils, stark desire turning the ring that was left into molten green. “I need you so much. Need this…so fucking good.” His chest rose and fell heavily, his expression fierce and hungry as he watched her drive her mouth around him over and over again.

She felt him break against her onslaught, that formidable control shattering. He pushed her back until she was flat on the mattress, his powerful thighs forcing hers farther apart. He moved, the slide of his muscled body against hers makingher pulse leap higher and faster. Still standing on the floor, he grabbed her waist and dragged her toward him, his biceps flexing and bunching. Then he pressed his erection intimately against her, nudging his way in, stretching her, setting her body on fire. She caught a glimpse of his dark, fierce expression before he crushed his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply just as he buried his shaft to the hilt in her, possessing her completely. Their moans mingled, and once he began to move, she couldn’t get enough of his hard penetration, the sexual energy and potent heat radiating off him.

His big, hot, calloused hands closed over her breasts as he plunged into her, fast and deep and strong, a rich, seductive rhythm that pulsed as vitally as her heartbeat, and for the first time in her life, she felt vibrantly alive. Rubbing and massaging, then rolling her hard, sensitive nipples between his fingers, his big, delineated body thrust over and over again, and he bent toward her, buried his face against her neck, his ragged breath hot and damp against her skin. “You are so fucking tight, so hot and wet,” he rasped in her ear. She grabbed handfuls of his hair, wanting more, needing more. He slanted his mouth across hers, kissing her just as recklessly as he was pumping into her, and she kissed him back just as recklessly.

He broke the kiss, lowered his head, and closed his mouth over her taut, aching breast. His thumb found her core and he teased over the aching nub, as he sucked her nipple strong and deep, until she felt that same seductive, pulling need deep in her center. An electric jolt zapped through her, exploding in heated ripples across her nerve endings. His thrusts were getting deeper, slower, his breath coming faster, and the combination of his hot sucking mouth, his relentless thumb, and his flexing hips driving himself into her over and over ignited such a strong orgasm, that she arched hard under him, her body so alive with pleasure she could barely breathe.

Dagger released the sexiest, masculine sound low in his chest, vibrating against her nipple as he jerked violently against her, bucking as that sound went hoarse and high and succumbed to his own blistering orgasm.

She clutched him to her as he took his pleasure, his release so much a part of her, sharing himself with her in this moment set off an incoherent frenzy claiming her. His fingers tangling in her hair, Dagger held her head as he covered her mouth in a punishing kiss that blasted through all her emotional defenses, that stripped away reality. Drinking in the sounds that were driven from her, he held her tightly, a fragmented groan shuddering from him. Dragging his mouth away from hers, he buried his face against the curve of her neck, a hard, wild urgency shuddering through him. There was no holding back. He gave so much to her in that moment that she could scarcely breathe with the weight of this man’s generosity. It unleashed a storm like no other, raw and violent. Engulfing. Her thoughts went back to him, out of control in that hospital, going for Langford’s throat.

She held him until his breathing evened out, and when he went to slip off her, she held him harder. “Don’t go,” she whispered, his heavy weight the only thing that was real and solid in her shattered universe. Her whole body trembled from the aftermath, tears slipping from her eyes from the mind-shattering emotions that filled her from experiencing an absolute and total joining with him. That feeling was mixed with a profound ache. Hhad she ever felt this way with Brian? Her heart sank because it hurt so much. Brian had never given her such uncontrolled emotional honesty, and the awed discovery of what real passion was made her squeeze her eyes closed, knowing without a shadow of a doubt she had never ever felt this close to a man before.

“I’m too heavy,” he murmured, sounding as shattered as she was. A jagged sigh escaped him, and he pressed a kiss against her neck, something profoundly poignant in the touch of his mouth against her.

“No, you’re not.” Not in body or in the weight of all that he carried. Dragging one arm free, Dagger cradled her head closer against him, the labored pounding of his heart vibrating through her. He inhaled raggedly, then brushed his mouth against the curve of her shoulder.

Quinn flattened her hand against the back of his neck, loving the way his hair was so fine and soft at the base, such a contrast to his intimidating, hard-muscled body. It was a long time before Quinn was fully aware of anything but Dagger. Then pieces of reality filtered through, the jumble of bedding beneath her, the rough texture of his beard, the light that spilled in through the window. But it was his weight she was most conscious of and the wet thickness of him still deep inside her. Closing her eyes, she slowly smoothed her hands up his torso, savoring the damp texture of his skin and the denseness of the underlying muscles.

Dagger inhaled deeply, then eased some of his weight onto his forearms, the small shift rocking his pelvis against hers. The moment sent aftershocks of sensation shooting through her, and Quinn clutched him, her breath catching. She locked her legs over his thighs, moving to keep him deep inside her. He remained motionless for a moment, then bracing his weight on his arms, he cradled her head in both hands, his mouth covering hers with a moist, lingering kiss. There was such raw tenderness in that kiss, she opened her mouth to drink it all in. He tightened his hold on her face, his mouth soft and searching as he deepened the kiss. With the same infinite gentleness, moving her beyond words.

He stroked his thumbs along her jaw, then with an uneven sigh, he reluctantly lifted his head. Embracing all the emotionsthat filled her, she touched his face, her voice breaking. “You’d give up…everything for me, wouldn’t you?”

A look of deep disquiet darkened his eyes, stark and direct. He pressed his thumb across her mouth, his voice husky as he whispered. “Everygoddamnthing.” He pulled on one of her curls and watched it bounce.

“You’ve always been there for me. Every step of the way. Even when I pushed you away, hurt you, slapped you, and hurled such cruel things at you.”

He winced slightly, as if her words had touched something raw inside him. “I forgive you, Quinn. Sometimes we do things we regret. Grief has a way of changing us.”

“You’re still doing it,” she whispered. “Still there for me, but I know I hurt you, and I regret everything so very much.”

“That means a lot,” he whispered back. He held her gaze for a moment, then lowered his head and kissed her, but in spite of the tenderness of that caress, she sensed something dark and troubling in him. Cupping his cheek, she drew away from him, her eyes somber. “What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t look away, the disquiet in his eyes deepening, then he looked away, his expression taut. “I don’t think I would have survived losing you,” he said gruffly. Fighting the sting of tears, and a sureness inside her that it wasn’t what he had been about to say, but in this moment, nothing else was important except this between them. “Quinn, I?—”

She pressed her fingers against his mouth to silence him. “No more needs to be said right now. Rest, babe. Just let us rest here for a while.” She couldn’t imagine what doubts he carried, and there was still so much left unspoken between them, a reckoning on the horizon, but not right now. She just wanted to savor every bit of him. His muscles were like steel, his body so distracting. She ran her hands over his back down to his butt, finer than any man she’d ever seen. “You’re a beautiful man, Kade,” shemurmured. He grunted like he didn’t want to respond to that. Then he lifted his head.

“Let’s talk about real beauty. Geezus, Quinn, you are so gorgeous.”

Her cheeks heated. “I’m so glad I hit the gym as hard as I could. I’m no cover model.” Unbidden, Brian’s words after she’d had the twins came back to her.Babe, you need to hit those weights a little harder. Wouldn’t want to stay flabby.He’d said it like it was an offhand comment, but his words had stung. Dagger was still talking, and she was mad at herself for letting that memory intrude.

The old Quinn, the woman she used to be before her life shattered, never second-guessed herself like this. But now, stripped bare in the dim light, she felt the weight of her own self-consciousness creeping in. “My body isn’t the same as it was years ago. Not after carrying twins, not after the war I’d waged against myself in grief.” She rubbed at the faded marks, still there, faint silver reminders of her pregnancy. His eyes watched her, and there was only hunger in his pale green depths. She was damn glad she’d hit the gym as hard as she had after getting sober, but here now, under his gaze, she couldn’t silence the flicker of doubt.

Dagger noticed. Of course he did. He always saw too much.

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